Restricting eligibility for senior government economic-policy posts by requiring a graduate degree in economics would reduce the chances for good public policy outcomes.
Responses
© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
19%
2%
5%
33%
23%
16%
2%
Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
7%
42%
28%
19%
4%
Participant |
University |
Vote |
Confidence |
Bio/Vote History |
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 Daron Acemoglu |
MIT | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Alberto Alesina |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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a degree in economics is a necessary not sufficient condition for public policy advice in economc
is
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 Joseph Altonji |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Alan Auerbach |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 David Autor |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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On average, economists understand economics better than non-economists. But some of the best policy entrepreneurs come from outside the fold
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 Katherine Baicker |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Abhijit Banerjee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Marianne Bertrand |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Markus Brunnermeier |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Restrictions reduce flexibility. Having a Ph.D. is a big plus in general, but there might be exceptional candidates without too.
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 Raj Chetty |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Judith Chevalier |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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On net, it seems good practice for government economic advisers to have PhD -level training. But a mandate seems like overkill.
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 David Cutler |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I do not think one needs an econ Ph.D. to be a senior economic advisor. But I also don't think a restriction has to harm policy.
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 Angus Deaton |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Darrell Duffie |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Aaron Edlin |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Barry Eichengreen |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Not confident, but if Trump's MD should be licensed due to his inability to judge quality.....
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 Liran Einav |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Ray Fair |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Amy Finkelstein |
MIT | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Pinelopi Goldberg |
Yale | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Austan Goolsbee |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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What matters is who POTUS listens to not where they went to school
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 Michael Greenstone |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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of course, i agree.....but this is a bit like asking farmers if farmers are important.......best for others to judge.
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 Robert Hall |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Oliver Hart |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I think it would probably improve decisions. That said, I don't really approve of blanket restrictions.
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 Bengt Holmström |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Caroline Hoxby |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Hilary Hoynes |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Kenneth Judd |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Meant Strongly Agree, misread direction of question: “Let POTUS choose who he wants and face public scrutiny. & there are incompetent PhDs”
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 Steven Kaplan |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Will not have much of an effect either way. Policymakers will listen to economists, then make decisions based on economics and politics.
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 Anil Kashyap |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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more training helps, but lots of bad advice from people with credentials, so restricting the supply of people is not wise.
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 Pete Klenow |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Ricardo didn't have a PhD in Economics.
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 Jonathan Levin |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Meant to Agree, misread direction of question: “Rather than a degree, a better set of criteria might be competence, judgment, integrity…”
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 Eric Maskin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I don't think government economic officials need to have a graduate degree--but it wouldn't hurt.
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 William Nordhaus |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Seems like a reasonable part of a job description.
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 Emmanuel Saez |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Larry Samuelson |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Meant Disagree, misread direction of question: “Econ PhD isn’t only desirable attribute, but helps if sr econ policy maker to has training.”
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 José Scheinkman |
Columbia University | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Richard Schmalensee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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If i understand the wording, the strong inequality asserted is surely false. Not at all clear that "would increase" is true, however.
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 Carl Shapiro |
Berkeley | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Robert Shimer |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Although occupational licensing is bad policy, it can reduce the likelihood of bad outcomes. Here it constrains a third party, the executive
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 James Stock |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Richard Thaler |
Chicago Booth | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Christopher Udry |
Northwestern | Bio/Vote History | ||
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There are good advisors with and without graduate degrees (and bad, too). Excluding one category needlessly restricts choice.
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